KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 24): Bursa Malaysia closed lower on Wednesday (Aug 24), tracking the heavy selling on regional indices as investors were concerned about the release of weak western economic data while the drought-driven power shortages in China added to industry woes in the republic.

At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) declined 15.31 points or 1.03% to end at 1,467.26 compared with Tuesday's closing of 1,482.57.

The benchmark index opened 1.53 points higher at 1,484.1 this morning and moved between 1,464.83 and 1,487.97 throughout the day.

On the broader market, decliners beat gainers 522 to 349, while 390 counters were unchanged, 1,071 untraded, and seven others suspended.

Total turnover rose to 2.88 billion units worth RM1.72 billion from 2.03 billion units worth RM1.55 billion on Tuesday.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the local market was heavily impacted by increasing regional and global risks and uncertainties.

“We reckon that sentiment will remain jittery for the moment although bargain hunting may prevail given the attractive valuations of local equities, hence we expect the FBM KLCI to trend sideways within the 1,460-1,480 region for the remainder of the week,” he told Bernama.

"From a technical point of view, we spotted the immediate support at 1,460 and resistance at 1,500," he added.

Malacca Securities in a note said the decline in Wednesday's trading was due to persistent concerns ahead of the Jackson Hole meeting and investors may react negatively if the US Federal Reserve turned more hawkish going forward.

Meanwhile, Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.49% to 28,313.47, South Korea’s Kospi improved 0.5% to 2,447.45 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dipped 1.2% to 19,268.74.

Among the heavyweights, Public Bank Bhd perked up one sen to RM4.61, CIMB Group Holdings Bhd rose eight sen to RM5.36, while Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) declined two sen to RM8.81, Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd was six sen easier at RM8.50, and IHH Healthcare Bhd went down 12 sen to RM6.22.  

Of the actives, Metronic Global Bhd earned half-a-sen at 6.5 sen, Serba Dimanik Holdings Bhd lost 3.5 sen to 4.5 sen, Euro Holdings Bhd erased half-a-sen to 12.5 sen, and Techna-X Bhd was flat at 3.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM ACE Index dipped 16.83 points to 4,874.97, FBMT 100 Index fell 87.2 points to 10,190.33, FBM Emas Shariah Index shed 144.8 points to 10,503.82, FBM 70 eased 30.87 points to 12,601, while the FBM Emas Index slid 82.61 points to 10,450.35.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index gained 12.35 points to 16,550.95, Plantation Index lost 199.02 points to 6,860.83, Industrial Products and Services Index erased 0.53 of-a-point to 179.89, while the Energy Index fell 5.69 points to 707.19.

The Main Market volume improved to 2.11 billion shares worth RM1.5 billion from 1.33 billion shares worth RM1.32 billion on Tuesday.

Warrants' turnover expanded to 420.03 million units valued at RM59.27 million from 367.06 million units valued at RM59.58 million on Tuesday.

The ACE Market volume grew to 344.52 million shares worth RM146.23 million from 321.66 million shares worth RM166.68 million previously.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 425.81 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (511 million), construction (64.23 million), technology (138.72 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (40.6 million), property (74.57 million), plantation (42.69 million), REITs (5.95 million), closed/fund (nil), energy (646.79 million), healthcare (68.46 million), telecommunications and media (67.28 million), transportation and logistics (20.45 million), and utilities (12.4 million).